Embodiments described herein relate generally to language instruction. More particularly, embodiments described herein relate to a system and method for modeling of phonological errors in computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) systems.
CAPT systems can be effective among language learners who prefer to go through a curriculum at their own pace. For example, CAPT systems can administer repeated practice drills which may be needed for a learner to achieve sufficient familiarity with a learned language. Some known CAPT systems are first language (L1) independent (i.e., the language learner's first language or “native” language) and cater to a wide audience of language learners from different language backgrounds. These systems guide the learner through pre-designed prompts and provide limited feedback based on the closeness of the acoustics of the learners' pronunciation to that of native/canonical pronunciation. In some such systems, the corrective feedback, if any, is implicit in the form of pronunciation scores. Moreover, in some instances, such systems may include manual creation and learned patterns gained through regular expression. In such instances, the learner may need to self-correct based on his/her own intuition about what went wrong. This method can be ineffective especially when the learner suffers from the inability to perceive certain native sounds.
Accordingly, a need exists for systems and methods for modeling phonological errors based on native pronunciations.